Select annotated bibliography entry
Wilburn, Reginald A. Preaching the Gospel of Black Revolt: Appropriating Milton in Early African American Literature. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2014.
Examines the presence and influence of John Milton within the early 17th century in a variety of early African American writing. Wilburn examines Milton’s presence in early African Americans’ rhetorical affiliations and his satanic epic for messianic purposes of freedom and racial uplift. Wilburn contends that African Americans executed a refusal to rhetorical incompetence by reinventing writing styles, themes, symbolism, imagery, and key figures in Milton’s writings to connect to the religious or scriptural significance in his texts.
